Timeline of London (20th century) facts for kids

This is a timeline of important events in the history of London during the 20th century. London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom.

London in the Early 1900s

• 1900
  • January 9: An Influenza outbreak affects London.
  • January 15: The London Hippodrome opens. It is a place for circus shows.
  • March 3: The Boundary Estate in Shoreditch officially opens. It is Britain's first council housing estate.
  • July: The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice is shown at Postman's Park. It honors ordinary people who died saving others.
  • July 5: Thames Ironworks F.C. changes its name to West Ham United F.C..
  • July 30: The Central London Railway opens. This is now the main part of the Central line (London Underground).
  • November 1: The London Government Act 1899 starts. It divides the County of London into 28 smaller areas called boroughs.
  • The Hotel Russell in Russell Square welcomes its first guests.
• 1901
  • February 2: Queen Victoria's funeral procession goes through London.
  • February 21: The Apollo Theatre opens on Shaftesbury Avenue.
  • March 12: The Whitechapel Art Gallery opens. It was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend.
  • April 1: The population of London is counted. Over 4.5 million people live in the central area. Over 6.6 million live in the wider city.
  • April 4: Electric trams start running in London.
  • May 18: Alexandra Palace reopens to the public.
  • June 20: Edward Elgar's music piece Cockaigne (In London Town) is first played. It is about London.
  • June 29: The Horniman Museum opens in Forest Hill.
  • August 5: Britain's first permanent cinema opens in Islington.
  • November 20: The Metropolitan Borough of Kensington is given royal status.
  • The London County Council starts using the blue plaque scheme. These plaques mark buildings where famous people lived.
  • The Hackney Empire opens as a music hall.
• 1902
  • March 1: The first GPO telephone exchange opens in London.
  • April: Vladimir Lenin lives in London for a year. He edits a newspaper and studies at the British Museum Reading Room.
  • April 9: The Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERCL) is formed. It brings together several Underground lines.
  • May 29: The London School of Economics opens.
  • August 4: The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.
  • August 9: The Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra takes place at Westminster Abbey. It was delayed because the King was ill.
  • December 1: The Metropolitan Water Board is created. It takes over water supply companies.
  • Ealing Studios are set up for making films.
• 1903
  • January 27: A fire at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum kills 51 people.
  • March 6: The Tyburn Convent and Shrine of the Martyrs is founded.
  • May 20: The new Kew Bridge is opened by King Edward VII.
  • June: The Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral opens.
  • June 18: An explosion at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich kills 16 people.
  • November 2: The tabloid newspaper Daily Mirror starts publishing.
  • December 16: The earliest blue plaque still standing is put up. It is for the writer Charles Dickens on his former home.
• 1904
  • April 25: Herbert Beerbohm Tree starts an Academy of Dramatic Art. It later becomes RADA.
  • June 9: The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) performs its first concert.
  • August 15: The Metropolitan Fire Brigade changes its name to the London Fire Brigade.
  • September 1: Brentford F.C. plays its first game at Griffin Park.
  • December 24: The Coliseum Theatre opens.
  • December 27: J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up is first performed.
• 1905
  • February: Lots Road Power Station starts making electricity for the Underground railways.
  • March 10: Chelsea Football Club is founded.
  • May 12: The Natural History Museum shows its popular "Dippy" exhibit. It is a replica of a dinosaur skeleton.
  • October 18: The London County Council's new street, Kingsway, and the Aldwych area are opened.
• 1906
  • January 13: Woolwich Town Hall opens.
  • February 24: The Kingsway tramway subway opens.
  • March 10: The Bakerloo line of the Underground opens.
  • May 15: Our Dumb Friends League opens its first animal hospital.
  • May 24: The Ritz Hotel opens in Piccadilly. It is London's first major steel-framed building.
  • May 26: The new Vauxhall Bridge opens.
  • July 28: The Tooting Bec Lido opens as a large outdoor swimming pool.
  • September 15: The Brown Dog affair causes riots. A statue of a dog is put up against animal testing.
  • October 23: Suffragettes disrupt the State Opening of Parliament.
  • December 15: The Piccadilly line opens.
  • The Hampstead Garden Suburb is created. It is a planned community with green spaces.
• 1907
  • February 7: The "Mud March" takes place. It is the first large march by women fighting for the right to vote.
  • February 27: The Old Bailey criminal court building opens.
  • March 22: The first taxicabs with taximeters start working in London.
  • May 13: The 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is held in Hackney. Important figures like Lenin and Stalin attend.
  • June 22: The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens. It later becomes part of the Northern line.
  • July 8: Imperial College of Science and Technology is formed.
• 1908
  • May 26: The Franco-British Exhibition is held at White City.
  • June 12: The Rotherhithe Tunnel opens for cars and people.
  • June 13: A large march and rally for women's right to vote takes place.
  • July 13-25: The 1908 Summer Olympics are held at White City Stadium.
  • October: The first Ideal Home Exhibition is held at Olympia.
  • November: Short Brothers is founded in Battersea. It is England's first aircraft manufacturing company.
• 1909
  • February 26: The first color film using Kinemacolor is shown at the Palace Theatre.
  • March 15: The department store Selfridges, Oxford Street opens.
  • March 31: The Port of London Authority takes over London's docks.
  • June 5: Alliott Verdon Roe makes the first flight of an all-British aircraft.
  • June 26: The Victoria and Albert Museum opens its new building. The Science Museum also becomes an independent institution.
  • September 14: The Strand Palace Hotel opens. Trams in London are allowed into the City of London for the first time.
  • October 2: The first match is played at Twickenham Stadium, a famous rugby ground.
  • December 1: London's first suburban electric railway system opens.

London in the 1910s

• 1910
  • February 24: The Electric Cinema, Notting Hill opens.
  • May 6: King Edward VII dies at Buckingham Palace.
  • May 14: The Japan–British Exhibition takes place at White City.
  • June 28: The Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral is officially dedicated.
  • October 18: The first B-type double-decker bus starts service. It is the first mass-produced bus.
  • December 26: The London Palladium music hall opens.
• 1911
  • February 1: HMS Thunderer, the last large warship built on the Thames, is launched.
  • March 11: The Victoria Memorial is dedicated outside Buckingham Palace.
  • April 2: The population of Greater London is 7,251,338.
  • May 12: The Festival of Empire opens at The Crystal Palace.
  • May 16: The Victoria Memorial is unveiled. The Mall is completed as a grand approach.
  • September 9-26: The world's first scheduled airmail service flies between Hendon and Windsor, Berkshire.
  • October 4: The first escalator on the London Underground opens at Earl's Court tube station.
  • November 21: Suffragettes storm Parliament.
• 1912
  • January 1: The Underground Electric Railways Company of London takes over the London General Omnibus Company.
  • March 1: Suffragettes break shop windows in the West End.
  • March 21: The London Museum opens in Kensington Palace.
  • May 1: The Statue of Peter Pan appears in Kensington Gardens.
  • June: The Cheapside Hoard of old jewelry is found in the City.
  • August 10: Frank McClean flies a plane under Tower Bridge and London Bridge.
  • October 26: The Woolwich foot tunnel opens under the Thames.
• 1913
  • January 8: The Poetry Bookshop opens in Bloomsbury.
  • May 20: The first Chelsea Flower Show takes place.
  • July 19: The London County Council Tramways runs its last horse trams.
  • July 26: 50,000 women march in Hyde Park for the right to vote. King's College Hospital opens in Camberwell.
  • September 6: Arsenal F.C. moves to its new stadium in Highbury.
  • November: John Archer becomes the first black mayor of a London borough.
• 1914
  • March 10: The suffragette Mary Richardson damages a painting in the National Gallery.
  • April 2: The Geffrye Museum opens in Shoreditch.
  • August 4: London's last horsebus operates. War is declared by the UK on Germany.
  • September: The famous "Your Country Needs You" poster is first seen in London.
  • November 6: Carl Hans Lody is the first German spy shot at the Tower of London.
• 1915
  • January 1: The Ilford rail crash kills 10 people.
  • February: The London County Council starts an ambulance service.
  • May 3: The Royal Flying Corps opens Northolt aerodrome.
  • May 31: German Zeppelins start bombing London. 7 people are killed.
  • July 19: A sculpture called The Burghers of Calais is unveiled in Victoria Tower Gardens.
  • October 13: Zeppelin bombs hit West End theatres and a bus.
• 1916
  • June 5: The School of Oriental Studies is officially created.
  • August 3: The musical Chu Chin Chow opens. It runs for a record 5 years.
  • November 28: The first bombing of central London by a plane takes place.
  • Big Ben is silenced until the end of the war.
• 1917
  • January 19: The Silvertown explosion at a munitions factory kills 73 people.
  • May 4/5: Cleopatra's Needle is damaged by bombs.
  • June 13: A daylight bombing raid kills 162 people, including children at a school in Poplar.
  • August 15: American troops march through London.
  • October 19: The worst Zeppelin bombing kills 32 people.
• 1918
  • January 28: A night of very heavy bombing in London.
  • August 30: 20,000 London policemen go on strike for better pay.
  • October 27: The "Spanish flu" causes 2,200 deaths in London in one week.
  • November 11: World War I ends. From 1919, a minute's silence is held on this date.
• 1919
  • February 27: The first royal wedding at Westminster Abbey since the 14th century takes place.
  • July 18: The Cenotaph, Whitehall is unveiled as a temporary memorial.
  • August 25: The Aircraft Transport and Travel airline starts daily flights to Paris from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome.
  • September 12: The first gold fixing takes place in the City of London.
  • December 30: Lincoln's Inn admits its first female law student.

London in the 1920s

• 1920
  • March 17: The Edith Cavell Memorial is unveiled.
  • March 29: Croydon Aerodrome opens.
  • May 13: London dock workers refuse to load weapons for Poland. This is part of the "Hands Off Russia" campaign.
  • June 9: The Imperial War Museum opens at The Crystal Palace.
  • August 18: The first night bus services start.
  • November 11: The Cenotaph, Whitehall is unveiled as a permanent war memorial. The Unknown Warrior is buried in Westminster Abbey.
  • The London School of Journalism is founded.
• 1921
  • April 26: Police patrol London on motorcycles for the first time.
  • June 6: Southwark Bridge opens.
  • June 19: The Greater London population is 7,476,168.
  • July 8: The Port of London Authority opens King George V Dock.
  • September 1: The Poplar Rates Rebellion takes place. Local council members are jailed for protesting unfair taxes.
  • September 9: Charlie Chaplin visits London and is met by thousands of fans.
• 1922
  • March 21: The rebuilt Waterloo station officially opens.
  • May 11: 2LO becomes the second radio station to broadcast regularly in the UK.
  • June 22: Sir Henry Wilson is killed by Irish gunmen in Belgravia.
  • July 17: County Hall opens as the new headquarters of the London County Council.
  • November 9: Ada Salter becomes the first female mayor of a London borough.
  • November 14: Radio station 2LO moves to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC).
• 1923
  • April 28: The Empire Stadium, Wembley, opens. It hosts the FA Cup Final.
  • September: T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land is first published in Britain.
• 1924
  • February 2: The play It Pays to Advertise opens. It is the first of the "Aldwych farces."
  • April 20: A new link connects two Tube lines, forming a through route.
  • April 23: The British Empire Exhibition opens at Wembley.
• 1925
  • February: The statue of Eros is moved from Piccadilly Circus for Underground station building.
  • May 14: Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
  • May 19: Jacob Epstein's sculpture Rima is unveiled in Hyde Park.
  • October 2: John Logie Baird successfully transmits the first television pictures. London's first double-decker buses with covered top decks are introduced.
• 1926
  • January 26: John Logie Baird shows his television system in Soho.
  • May 3-12: The 1926 United Kingdom general strike takes place.
  • September 13: An extension of the London Underground Tube line opens. It is later known as the Northern line.
  • October 23: The Fazal Mosque, London's first purpose-built mosque, is completed.
• 1927
  • February 14: Alfred Hitchcock's silent film The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is released.
  • May 29: 120,000 people welcome Charles Lindbergh to Croydon Airport.
  • December 3: The London Post Office Railway, a private Tube line for mail, opens.
  • December 21: "Slippery Wednesday" sees 1,600 people hurt on icy streets.
• 1928
  • January 6-7: The 1928 Thames flood causes 14 deaths. The moat at the Tower of London refills.
  • March: The Science Museum opens its own building.
  • September 3: Alexander Fleming accidentally rediscovers Penicillin at St Mary's Hospital.
  • October: The Firestone Tyre Factory opens.
  • December 20: A Gas explosion happens in High Holborn.
  • The first police boxes with telephones are put up in London.
• 1929
  • May 14: The Grosvenor House Hotel opens.
  • July 5: Heston Air Park opens.
  • October 28: The London Stock Exchange falls sharply after a crash in New York.
  • December 1: The Underground Electric Railways Company of London opens its new headquarters.
  • The Oxo Tower is completed.
  • The first Tesco grocery store opens in Burnt Oak.
  • The author J. M. Barrie gives the rights to his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up to Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children.

London in the 1930s

• 1930
  • March 9: The BBC radio station 2LO becomes the London Regional Programme.
  • June: Harmondsworth Aerodrome at Heathrow starts operating.
  • September 29: The Whitehall Theatre opens.
• 1931
  • January 6: Sadler's Wells Theatre reopens.
  • March 13: The League of Coloured Peoples is founded.
  • April 18: The Dorchester hotel opens.
  • April 26: London's population is 4,397,003 in the county. Greater London has 8,203,942 people.
  • May 5: The Vic-Wells Ballet, later The Royal Ballet, performs for the first time.
  • May 16: The first trolleybuses in London are introduced.
  • May 23: The Zoological Society of London opens Whipsnade Zoo.
  • November 12: The Abbey Road Studios are opened by Edward Elgar.
  • December 27: The statue of Eros returns to Piccadilly Circus.
• 1932
  • February 3: The Windmill Theatre opens in Soho.
  • March 10: Victoria Coach Station opens.
  • March 15: The first BBC radio broadcast comes from the new Broadcasting House.
  • July 19: The new Lambeth Bridge opens.
  • October 7: The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) makes its debut.
  • October 27: The National Hunger March arrives in London. This leads to clashes with police.
  • The Hoover Building is designed in the Art Deco style.
• 1933
  • January: The famous London Underground diagram designed by Harry Beck is introduced.
  • January 9: George Orwell's book Down and Out in Paris and London is published.
  • March 13: Southgate station, designed by Charles Holden, opens.
  • July 1: The London Passenger Transport Board takes over all buses, trams, and Underground railways.
  • July 3: New bridges over the Thames open: Chiswick Bridge, Twickenham Bridge, and Hampton Court Bridge.
  • July 19: The new Freemasons' Hall opens.
  • Battersea Power Station begins operating.
• 1934
  • March 9: Herbert Morrison becomes the leader of the London County Council.
  • May 31: Hendon Police College opens.
  • July 23: Tower Beach opens next to the Tower of London.
  • December 12: Queen Mary College is officially named.
  • The Penguin Pool, London Zoo is completed.
• 1935
  • January: The London County Council starts a green belt scheme to protect open land.
  • July 3: The Geological Museum opens.
  • July 13: The London County Council's Becontree estate, the world's largest housing estate, is completed. It has 27,000 new homes.
• 1936
  • June 6: The Beehive, Gatwick Airport terminal opens.
  • July 7: The Imperial War Museum opens in its new location.
  • October 4: The Battle of Cable Street takes place. Anti-fascist protesters clash with Oswald Mosley's supporters.
  • November 2: The BBC launches the world's first regular "high definition" television service.
  • November 30: The Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire.
  • December 9: A KLM airliner crashes in Purley, killing 14 people.
• 1937
  • April 27: The National Maritime Museum opens in Greenwich.
  • May 1-27: London's bus drivers go on strike.
  • May 6: The new Chelsea Bridge opens.
  • May 12: The Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth takes place.
  • August 28: The Morden–Edgware line is renamed the Northern line.
  • September 1: The Earls Court Exhibition Centre opens.
  • October: Senate House (University of London) is completed.
  • December 16: The musical Me and My Girl opens. The dance "The Lambeth Walk" becomes popular.
• 1938
  • January 6: The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud arrives in London after fleeing Vienna.
  • June: The London Green Belt is made official by law.
  • June 2: The children's zoo at London Zoo opens.
  • September 30: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returns from Munich. He gives his famous Peace for our time speech.
  • December 2: The first Kindertransport train arrives at Liverpool Street station. It carries Jewish children fleeing Germany.
• 1939
  • February 3: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombs two London Underground stations.
  • February 25: The first Anderson shelter is built in London. These are backyard shelters for air raids.
  • August 27: The Cabinet War Rooms become operational.
  • September 1: "Operation Pied Piper" begins. Children are evacuated from London.
  • September 3: War is declared by the UK on Germany. Air raid sirens sound in London, but it is a false alarm.
  • September 29: London's population reaches 8,615,254, the highest this century.

London During World War II (1940s)

• 1940
  • August 24: The first air raid of the war hits London.
  • September 7: The Blitz begins. German planes bomb London for 57 nights in a row.
  • September 13: Bombs damage Buckingham Palace. The King and Queen are unharmed.
  • September 15: Battle of Britain Day. The Royal Air Force (RAF) fights off a large German bombing attack.
  • October 13: 19 people are killed when a German bomb hits Bounds Green tube station, which is being used as an air-raid shelter.
  • October 14: At least 66 people are killed when a German bomb hits Balham station on the Underground, used as a shelter.
  • December 29-30: The Second Great Fire of London is caused by bombing. Many buildings are destroyed, including parts of the Guildhall. The famous photograph St Paul's Survives is taken.
• 1941
  • January 11: At least 56 people are killed when a German bomb hits Bank Underground station.
  • March 8: At least 34 people are killed when a German bomb hits the Café de Paris nightclub.
  • April 16-17: Serious bomb damage to railway routes and St Paul's Cathedral.
  • April 18: The heaviest air-raid of the year on London.
  • May 10-12: Bombing destroys many famous buildings, including the Commons Chamber of the Houses of Parliament. The Blitz ends, leaving around 25,000 people dead.
  • May 17-21: Rudolf Hess is held in the Tower of London. He is the last official state prisoner there.
  • August 15: Josef Jakobs, a German spy, is shot at the Tower of London. He is the last person executed there.
• 1942
  • August 11: Traffic is allowed onto the new Waterloo Bridge.
• 1943
  • January 17: Anti-aircraft shells kill 23 people during a raid.
  • March 3: Bethnal Green tube station disaster: 173 people are crushed to death in a panic.
  • July: The County of London Plan is published. It guides London's reconstruction after the war.
• 1944
  • January 21-22: Operation Steinbock (the "Baby Blitz"), a new German bombing campaign, begins.
  • June 13: The first V-1 flying bomb attack on London kills 8 civilians. These bombs are nicknamed "doodlebugs."
  • June 18: A V-1 flying bomb hits the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, killing 121 people.
  • September 8: The first V-2 rocket attack hits London, killing 3 people.
  • November 25: A V-2 rocket destroys a Woolworths store, killing 168 people.
  • December 14: Town planner Patrick Abercrombie publishes the Greater London Plan.
  • The Ministry of Works builds the first temporary postwar homes called "prefabs."
• 1945
  • March 8: A V-2 rocket hits Smithfield Market and kills 110 people.
  • March 27: The last V-2 rocket attacks on London.
  • April: Sybil Campbell becomes the first woman to be a professional judge in the UK.
  • May 8: V-E Day. Crowds celebrate the end of World War II in Europe.
  • July 26: The 1945 United Kingdom general election results are announced. The Labour Party wins many seats in London.
  • August 15: V-J Day. Crowds celebrate the end of World War II.
• 1946
  • January 1: The first international flight from London Heathrow Airport takes off.
  • January 10: The first United Nations General Assembly meets in Westminster.
  • February 20: The Royal Opera House re-opens after the War.
  • June 8: The London Victory Celebrations take place.
  • November 11: Stevenage is named Britain's first new town to help with London's overcrowding.
  • December 4: The Central line (London Underground) is extended to Stratford.
• 1947
  • February 23: The film Hue and Cry, filmed in London, is released. It is considered the first of the Ealing Comedies.
  • May 5: The Central line is extended to Leytonstone.
  • November 5: Guy the Gorilla arrives at London Zoo.
  • November 20: Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) marries The Duke of Edinburgh.
  • December: Norway starts its tradition of donating a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square.
• 1948
  • January 1: London's public transport comes under the London Transport Executive.
  • January 12: The London Co-operative Society opens Britain's first supermarket.
  • July 29-August 14: The 1948 Summer Olympics are held, based at Wembley Stadium.
  • November 21: The Central line is extended to Woodford and West Ruislip station.
  • December: Smog kills 700-800 people.
• 1949
  • April 26: The Ealing Comedy film Passport to Pimlico is shown.
  • May 10: The first self-service launderette opens.
  • November 27: Brumas becomes the first polar bear born at London Zoo.

London in the 1950s

• 1950
  • July 31: Sainsbury's opens its first purpose-built supermarket.
  • September 30: The London Transport Executive starts closing London's trams in London.
  • October 26: The Commons Chamber of the Houses of Parliament reopens after war damage repairs.
  • December 25: The Stone of Scone is stolen from Westminster Abbey.
  • London's population drops to around 3.5 million after the two world wars.
• 1951
  • April 6: The last trams run through the Kingsway tramway subway.
  • April 8: London's population is 3,348,336 in the county. Greater London has 8,346,137 people.
  • May 3-September 30: The Festival of Britain takes place on the South Bank. It includes the Royal Festival Hall.
  • June 15: The Ealing Comedy film The Lavender Hill Mob is released.
  • August 15: The first Miss World beauty pageant is held.
• 1952
  • May 21: The Eastcastle Street robbery takes place. £287,000 is stolen, Britain's largest robbery at the time.
  • July 5: The last of London's original trams in London operates. Many citizens come to say goodbye.
  • October 8: The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash kills 112 people.
  • November 25: Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap begins its long run.
  • December 4-9: The Great Smog covers London. It causes transport problems and is believed to cause around 4,000 deaths.
  • December 30: Tower Bridge's lifting parts are raised while a bus is crossing. The driver is rewarded for his bravery.
• 1953
  • April 8: 12 people are killed in the Stratford tube crash, the first major Tube accident with passenger deaths.
  • June 2: The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place in Westminster Abbey.
  • The Moka on Frith Street, Soho is the first Italian espresso coffee bar to open in the UK.
• 1954
  • September: Kidbrooke School opens as England's first purpose-built comprehensive school.
  • September 18: The marble head of Mithras is found in Walbrook Square.
  • December 10: The tea clipper Cutty Sark is moved to Greenwich for preservation.
  • The first UK Wimpy Bar opens.
• 1955
  • September 22: The first Independent Television channel for London begins broadcasting.
  • December 2: The Barnes rail crash kills 13 people.
  • December 8: The Ealing Comedy film The Ladykillers is released.
  • December 16: The new terminal at London Airport is opened by The Queen.
• 1956
  • January: The Battersea Poltergeist is first reported.
  • January 24: Plans are announced to build thousands of new homes in the Barbican area.
  • February 8: The first experimental AEC Routemaster double-deck bus starts service.
  • March 14: A memorial to Karl Marx is unveiled at his grave in Highgate Cemetery.
  • March 28: The Crystal Palace transmitting station starts broadcasting BBC Television.
  • April 22: The 2i's Coffee Bar opens in Soho. Its basement becomes a key place for rock and roll music.
  • July 5: Parliament passes the Clean Air Act because of the Great Smog of 1952.
  • December: Smog kills around 1000 people.
• 1957
  • December 4: The Lewisham rail crash kills 90 people.
  • December 19: St Bride's Church is re-dedicated by The Queen.
• 1958
  • March 21: The London Planetarium, Britain's first, opens.
  • April 19: The Marquee Club opens as a jazz venue.
  • May 5-June 19: A London bus strike takes place.
  • June 9: Gatwick Airport opens.
  • June 10: The City of Westminster installs the first regular parking meters.
  • August 30-September 5: The 1958 Notting Hill race riots take place.
  • September 26: The Austin FX4 taxi is launched.
  • October 13: Michael Bond's children's story A Bear Called Paddington, introducing Paddington Bear, is published.
• 1959
  • January: The first Caribbean carnival in Britain is held at St Pancras Town Hall.
  • April 6: The telephone code 01 is given to London.
  • April 23: The London Heliport opens in Battersea.
  • May 28: The Mermaid Theatre opens in the City of London.
  • September 30: The Chiswick flyover opens. The last flights take off from Croydon Aerodrome.
  • October 30: Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in Soho.
  • November 11: The AEC Routemaster double-deck bus starts full public service.
  • London Pride (beer) is first produced.

London in the 1960s

• 1960
  • April 18: 60,000 people protest against nuclear weapons in London.
  • September 15: The first traffic wardens are used in London.
  • September 27: A moving walkway is installed at Bank station.
• 1961
  • November 16: The Hammersmith flyover opens.
  • December: The demolition of the Euston Arch begins.
• 1962
  • May: Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell are jailed for damaging library books.
  • May 8: The last trolleybuses in London run.
  • June 6: The Beatles play their first session at Abbey Road Studios.
  • July 12: The Rolling Stones play their first show at the Marquee Club.
  • November 6: The new building for the Commonwealth Institute opens.
• 1963
  • February 11: The poet Sylvia Plath dies in her London flat.
  • March 19: The musical play Oh, What a Lovely War! is first performed.
  • May 16: The London Tourist Board is created.
  • July 31: The London Government Act 1963 is passed.
  • October 22: The National Theatre Company gives its first performance.
  • November 23: The design of the London police box inspires the TARDIS in Doctor Who.
• 1964
  • January 21: The Strand Underpass opens.
  • September 5: Biba opens its first store.
  • December 23: The ""Pirate" radio station Radio London begins broadcasting.
• 1965
  • January 7: The Kray Twins are arrested.
  • January 30: The State funeral procession of Winston Churchill takes place.
  • April 1: Local government in London is reorganized. The Greater London Council (GLC) takes over. The county of Middlesex is abolished. New London boroughs are created.
  • July 8: The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escapes from prison.
  • October 8: The Post Office Tower officially opens as a telecommunications hub.
  • Mary Quant introduces the miniskirt from her shop in Chelsea.
• 1966
  • March 27: Pickles, a dog, finds the FIFA World Cup Trophy, which was stolen.
  • April 15: Time magazine uses the phrase "Swinging London".
  • August 22: Centre Point, a tall office building, is completed.
  • September 18: The Notting Hill Fayre and Pageant, a predecessor of Notting Hill Carnival, opens.
  • December 23: The UFO Club, part of the UK underground scene, opens.
• 1967
  • January 23: Milton Keynes is named a new town to help with London's population.
  • March 1: The Queen Elizabeth Hall opens as a concert venue.
  • April 3: Norwell Roberts becomes the first black officer in the Metropolitan Police Service.
  • May 5: The Kinks' song "Waterloo Sunset" is released.
  • May 20: Tottenham Hotspur defeats Chelsea in the first all-London FA Cup final.
  • July 9: The last steam locomotives run into a London train station in regular service.
  • November 5: The Hither Green rail crash kills 49 people.
  • November 7: St Pancras railway station is made a Grade I listed building.
  • December 5: The Beatles open the Apple Shop.
• 1968
  • March 17: Police and protesters clash at an anti-Vietnam War protest.
  • April 5: A pilot flies his plane through Tower Bridge as a protest.
  • April 18: The stones of the 1831 London Bridge are sold to an American.
  • May 16: The Ronan Point tower block partially collapses after a gas explosion, killing 4 people.
  • August 2: London Weekend Television takes over the weekend TV franchise.
  • September 1: The London Transport Board opens the first section of the Victoria line Tube railway.
  • September 30: St Katharine Docks closes to shipping.
  • October 14: Euston railway station officially reopens after rebuilding.
• 1969
  • January 24: Student protests close the London School of Economics.
  • January 30: The Beatles' rooftop concert: The Beatles give their last public performance on a rooftop.
  • March 7: The Victoria line is officially opened by The Queen.
  • July 5: The Rolling Stones perform at a free festival in Hyde Park.
  • September 26: Abbey Road appears on The Beatles' famous album cover.

London in the 1970s

• 1970
  • January 1: Control of London Transport passes to the Greater London Council.
  • July: Westway opens.
  • July 6: A major power cut on the London Underground affects 200,000 people.
  • September 18: American rock star Jimi Hendrix dies in London.
  • October 6: BBC Radio London begins broadcasting.
  • November 27: The Gay Liberation Front organizes its first march in London.
• 1971
  • May 1: A bomb explodes in the Biba store.
  • February 15: Decimal Day sees London and the UK change to a new money system.
  • June 14: The first Hard Rock Cafe opens.
  • July 23: The Victoria line's extension to Brixton opens.
  • October 21: HMS Belfast (C35) opens as a museum ship on the Thames.
  • October 31: A terrorist bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower.
  • December 16: The trial of the Mangrove Nine concludes. The court acknowledges racial bias in the police.
• 1972
  • July 1: The first official national Gay Pride march takes place.
  • November 8: The Stock Exchange Tower opens.
• 1973
  • February 26: The TV documentary Metro-Land about London's suburbs is broadcast.
  • March 3: Two Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombs explode in London, killing 1 person.
  • March 8: The Old Bailey bombing, another IRA attack, kills 1 person.
  • March 17: The rebuilt London Bridge opens.
  • March 26: Women are allowed into the London Stock Exchange for the first time.
  • August 23: An IRA bomb is found and defused at Baker Street station.
  • September 10: IRA bombs at King's Cross and Euston railway stations injure 13 people.
  • October 8: LBC begins broadcasting, Britain's first independent local radio station.
  • October 16: Capital Radio begins broadcasting.
  • December 20: The Ealing Broadway rail crash kills 10 people.
  • Trellick Tower, a social housing block, is completed.
• 1974
  • March 20: Ian Ball tries to kidnap Princess Anne outside Buckingham Palace.
  • April 1: Thames Water takes over water supply management.
  • May 27: Jill Viner becomes London Transport's first female bus driver.
  • June 17: An IRA bomb explodes at the Palace of Westminster. Another bomb explodes at the Tower of London, killing 1 person.
  • October 12: The first UK McDonald's opens in Woolwich.
  • November 11: The New Covent Garden Market opens.
• 1975
  • February 28: The Moorgate tube crash kills 43 people.
  • August 14: The heaviest rainfall is recorded in London.
  • September 5: An IRA bomb explodes at The London Hilton on Park Lane, killing 2 people.
  • September 28-October 3: The Spaghetti House siege takes place, with 9 hostages taken.
  • October 9: An IRA bomb explodes outside Green Park tube station, killing 1 person.
  • December 6-12: The Balcombe Street siege: 4 IRA members take hostages before surrendering.
• 1976
  • January 29: 12 Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in the West End.
  • March 2: Brent Cross shopping centre opens.
  • August 20: The Grunwick dispute, an industrial dispute, begins.
  • October 25: The National Theatre is officially opened.
  • December: The Museum of London is established.
• 1977
  • April 11: London Transport launches its Silver Jubilee buses.
  • May 5: The 1977 Greater London Council election takes place.
  • August 13: The "Battle of Lewisham" takes place. Clashes occur between anti-racist protesters and the far-right National Front.
  • September 16: Glam rock star Marc Bolan dies in a car crash.
  • December 16: The Piccadilly line is extended to Heathrow Central tube station. It is the first metro system to serve an airport.
• 1978
  • June 8: St Mary's Church, Barnes is destroyed by fire.
  • August 20: Gunmen open fire on an Israeli airline bus.
  • December: Smog kills 700-800 people.
• 1979
  • April 7: The last RT type bus runs in London.
  • May 1: The Jubilee line of the Underground is opened.
  • September 14: The government announces plans to redevelop the London Docklands.
  • October 18: The new Lyric Theatre opens.

London in the 1980s

• 1980
  • March 28: The London Transport Museum opens.
  • April 30-May 5: The Iranian Embassy siege ends with intervention by the Special Air Service.
  • August 10: Alexandra Palace is damaged by fire for the second time.
  • August 16: Two nightclubs are destroyed by arson, killing 37 people.
  • October 30: The last Night Ferry train to Paris departs.
• 1981
  • January 18: 10 people are killed in the New Cross house fire.
  • March 29: The London Marathon is run for the first time.
  • April 11: The 1981 Brixton riot takes place.
  • July 2: The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) is set up to redevelop the docks.
  • July 29: The Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul's Cathedral.
  • October 4: London Transport introduces "Fares Fair," lowering public transport fares.
  • October 10: Chelsea Barracks is bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, killing 2 people.
  • November: The Port of London Authority closes the Royal Docks to general trade.
• 1982
  • January 19: Billingsgate Fish Market opens at a new location.
  • March 3: The Barbican Centre opens as an arts and conference venue.
  • May 28: Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom begins.
  • June 17: The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi is found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge.
  • July 20: The Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings take place.
  • October: The Thames Barrier begins operating. It is officially opened in 1984.
• 1983
  • April 4: Gunmen steal £7,000,000 from a security van, Britain's biggest cash robbery.
  • May 16: Wheel clamps are first used to stop illegal parking in London.
  • September 22: The Docklands redevelopment begins.
  • October 7: A plan to abolish the Greater London Council is announced.
  • November 26: The Brink's-Mat robbery takes place. £26,000,000 worth of gold is stolen.
  • December 17: The Harrods bombings: an IRA car bomb kills 6 people outside Harrods.
  • Mary Donaldson becomes the first female Lord Mayor of London.
• 1984
  • April 4: The Churchill War Rooms open as a museum.
  • June 29: London Transport comes under the control of London Regional Transport.
  • November 23: A serious fire occurs in the Victoria line tunnel at Oxford Circus tube station.
  • London Fashion Week begins.
• 1985
  • January 6: The Capitalcard is introduced. It is the first ticket valid on both London Transport and British Rail.
  • February 19: The soap opera EastEnders starts on BBC television.
  • March 11: Harrods is bought by Mohammed Al Fayed.
  • July 13: Live Aid takes place at Wembley Stadium.
• 1986
  • January 24: The Wapping dispute begins. Newspaper employees strike over new technology.
  • March 31: The Greater London Council is abolished. A fire damages Hampton Court Palace.
  • April 12: Heathrow Terminal 4 opens.
  • October 27: "Big Bang": rules for the London Stock Exchange are changed.
  • October 29: The M25 motorway (London orbital) is completed.
  • November 18: The Lloyd's building opens.
• 1987
  • July 30: The Docklands Light Railway begins operating.
  • October 15-16: The Great Storm of 1987 hits London. Many trees are blown down.
  • October 26: London City Airport begins commercial flights.
  • November 18: 31 people are killed in the King's Cross fire.
  • The Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey become UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• 1988
  • May 16: Thameslink's cross-London rail services are introduced.
  • July: Surrey Quays Shopping Centre opens.
  • December 12: 35 people are killed in the Clapham Junction rail crash.
• 1989
  • August 20: The Marchioness'' disaster: 51 people are killed when a dredger collides with a pleasure boat on the Thames.
  • October-December: Gates are put up across Downing Street.
  • London's Air Ambulance begins operating.
  • The Design Museum opens.
  • Remains of The Rose and Globe Theatre are discovered.

London in the 1990s

• 1990
  • January 26: The last trains use Holborn Viaduct railway station.
  • March 31: The Poll Tax Riot takes place.
  • April 1: The Inner London Education Authority is abolished.
  • May 6: London's telephone code 01 is split into 071 and 081.
  • July 10: The first Hampton Court Palace Flower Show opens.
  • July 20: A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at the Stock Exchange Tower.
• 1991
  • February 7: The Downing Street mortar attack is carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
  • April 2: HM Prison Belmarsh opens.
  • August 26: One Canada Square, the "Canary Wharf tower," opens.
  • November 24: Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies in London.
• 1992
  • February 28: The London Bridge station bombing by the IRA.
  • April 10: The Baltic Exchange bombing by the IRA kills 3 people.
  • September: The first Open House London event takes place.
  • October: The University of Greenwich is formed.
  • December 1: The University of Westminster is formed.
• 1993
  • January 28: An IRA bomb injures 4 people outside Harrods.
  • April 24: The 1993 Bishopsgate bombing: an IRA truck bomb explodes, killing 1 person and causing huge damage.
  • May 17: The Limehouse Link tunnel opens.
  • August 4: Millwall F.C.'s New Den stadium opens.
• 1994
  • February 26: A cinema fire kills 11 people.
  • July 14: The SIS Building, headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, opens.
  • November 14: The Eurostar train service to Paris begins from Waterloo International railway station.
• 1995
  • April 16: London's telephone codes 071 and 081 become 0171 and 0181.
  • August 20: The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Europe's first traditional Hindu temple, opens.
  • December 13: The 1995 Brixton riot.
• 1996
  • February 9: The 1996 Docklands bombing: an IRA truck bomb explodes at Canary Wharf, killing 2 people.
• 1997
  • March: The London Aquarium opens.
  • May 27: Shakespeare's Globe, a reconstruction of the old Globe Theatre, opens.
  • September 6: The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in Westminster Abbey.
  • September 19: The Southall rail crash kills 7 people.
  • November 24: The new British Library building opens.
• 1998
  • March 3: Construction of the Millennium Dome begins.
  • May 7: A vote supports the creation of a Greater London Authority.
  • June 19: The Heathrow Express rail service begins full operation.
• 1999
  • March 16: The Metro free newspaper launches.
  • May: London IMAX cinema opens.
  • May 21: The film Notting Hill is released.
  • May 24: The Thames Clippers ferry service starts.
  • October 5: The Ladbroke Grove rail crash kills 31 people.
  • December 31: The Millennium Dome, the London Eye, and the Jubilee Line Extension open.